I saw this in my newsfeed the other day that was posted from a somewhat “famous” YouTuber. Don’t get me wrong, I think anyone with any sense would react if they felt threatened…. Although I think most would contact building management, a landlord, or even the police way before resorting to violence. My problem with this post is this person’s need to tell his/her huge following the race of this individual. I know most people, if you read this and are not a POC and can’t read between these lines, you’re probably thinking “What’s the big deal? If he/she looks through the peephole they’re going to notice race and sex first.” Agreed, and I know this would be info you would give if you were filing out a report, example: you would say something like “Average height black man, looks around early 20s, short hair, etc.”, but this isn’t a police report. It’s FB. To take the time out to post something “terrifying” on FB and to even state “I don’t want to make things a ‘race’ issue” just raises red flags. Because most of the time when someone states they don’t want to make something a race thing, it’s usually a race thing. The story would’ve been just as affective like this:
People would get the jist that you feel unsafe and will do what it takes to protect yourself. This post upset me because if you’ve been noticing on the news lately black people are being gunned down left and right with no questions asked until after their heart stops beating. My own cousin last month was killed and he was only 16 years old. Not to mention it was an overkill. This person felt threatened and shot him in the head then stood over his lifeless body and proceeded to unload three more shots. With this individual why automatically think that this person is trying to break into your home. I mean if someone is going to break in, you’d definitely know it. They’re not going to just turn a handle. What if he’s new to the building and goes to the wrong apartment by mistake? When I first moved into my old building, I went to the wrong apartment on several occasions because I wasn’t paying attention. How screwed would it be if I were shot because I made a mistake? What if this guy is mentally challenged and ended up going to the wrong door? Again, if I felt threatened I would contact the office of my building and let them know what’s going on before I said something on social media about shooting someone. I’m not going to call this person racist. That is a very harsh label to put on someone. I truly mean that.
I do know where this mentality comes from though. The media. Someone posted a tweet (I wish I could remember who) after the shootings at the Deli Mart in Isla Vista, CA earlier this year that said something to the effect of “If you’re black they call you a thug. If you’re Muslim you’re a terrorist and if you’re white you have a mental illness.” It’s very sad, but this is how the media portrays things and this is imbedded in us. I’ll be 100% honest. When something like the Boston bombing happened my first thought was “terrorist”. That’s something that has been subliminally (and not so subliminally) drilled into our heads. I had to snap myself out of that way of thinking when that whole thing went down because I started to realize that the story itself wasn’t adding up or making any sense. All the while the media paints POC as villains the rest of America is brainwashed in thinking that they’re (or should be) frightened victims. That’s why this YouTuber stated, in so many words, that if he/she were to shoot this person the media would portray them as a racist. If you really pay attention to the news you’ll notice that it’s less about that and more about portraying the POC as a criminal and bringing up a past that has nothing to do with the situation at hand. For instance, with the story of John Crawford (the young man shot at Walmart, in my hometown no less) I’ve seen more articles talk about his “baby’s mama” and girlfriend then about the actual situation. Or if you look at the case of Eric Garner, even though there’s actual VIDEO of him being killed there’s more talk about his past criminal record than what was actually happening. There’s a hashtag trending on Twitter this very moment that’s #IfTheyGunnedMeDown and it’s young black people asking that if they were gunned down would the media pull a pic from their social media accounts showing them with friends, maybe in baggy clothes, flipping the bird, in a do-rag or would they show the pics of them with family, graduating, at church, or volunteering. We all know the answer to that one because we’re seen it time and time again. That’s what happened to my cousin. Instead of showing pics of him with his family or girlfriend showering them with kisses and smiling they pulled the ones of him trying to look hard and in baggy clothes. The media has an agenda and that’s to make young black people, especially young black men, look terrifying. That’s not fair to just assume from a person’s race, sex, class, religion, etc what type of intentions they have and that they’re a criminal, gang member, freeloader, etc. For some reason a lot of people have not grasped that yet. And when people do shine light on these injustices POC get told that we’re “making it up”, or to “get over it”, or that “slavery ended”. No matter your race, open your eyes and your mind. I remember a few weeks ago when the vine went viral of the boy filming people following him in stores, there were an astounding amount of white people who claimed he was making it up. I was shocked that it was mostly of POC who knew about this. This type of activity has been going on for decades and it doesn’t matter what a POC is dressed like, their age, or anything else. In all of my 31 years it has been the norm to get followed around in stores so for someone to say that it’s all lies and it’s made up is very shocking to me.
I’ll never understand why racism still exists in this day and age. I’ll also never understand the people who ignore what is happening and don’t get why POC are outraged. You don’t know what it’s like to have to walk on eggshells and have to watch your back at all times. But even though if you don’t know what that feels like try to put yourself in a POC’s shoes and not just say “I have a friend that’s black.” or “I dated a black guy once.” That’s not the same thing. If you were to live in our shoes you would see how terrifying it is to watch the news sometimes, or to be in a certain neighborhood, or to be in a certain store. POC just want to live. It’s not much to ask for. I want to be that optimistic person and say that if we all saw each other as human this world will be a better place, but I know now that this is not how our country works. It’s a sad truth. I am appreciative of the people that I see on places like Tumblr who may not be a POC who is just as outraged as I am. You are the ones who can change the people around you. You are the ones who can get people to wake the hell up. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Okay, I’m done. The last thing I’ll say is that we all need to be good to each other and we should all stand up for each other. <3
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